


Infinite Possibilities

by Dazzledfirestar



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Secret Avengers
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Crossing Timelines, Established Relationship, M/M, glimpses of other realities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 13:08:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2230242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazzledfirestar/pseuds/Dazzledfirestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the middle of a fight with some high tech bad guys, Phil and Nick get hit with a strange energy that shows them more than they were expecting to see.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Infinite Possibilities

**Author's Note:**

> A small fic based on [this post on tumblr](http://dazzledfirestar.tumblr.com/post/96241911583/neferipitou-adds-we-just-caught-our-alternate). I couldn't let the idea go so I ran with it.

It was odd to begin with. Apparently Nick’s break didn’t last as long as they all thought it would. He might go back to hiding in the shadows and taking down HYDRA bases all over the world when this was done, of course. Phil was pretty much banking on him not becoming a permanent fixture around the Playground. But for a little bit, back to back against the bad guys who were… well, he wasn’t really sure who they belonged to but they were definitely bad guys with access to some weird tech. It felt a little like the old days.

It felt like having his friend back which was something he hadn’t really had time to think too hard on recently.

He caught a glimpse of Melinda looking particularly worried before things went blindingly white around them. He heard Nick curse behind him and figured they’d both been caught in the blast but the thing was, it wasn’t burning or cold or anything that wouldn’t fade like the flash of a camera. Nothing hurt. Nothing felt permanent. 

He rubbed at his eyes, trying to speed up the process but as he blinked them open again, he couldn’t quite figure out what he was looking at. The space was different. The goons were gone. It looked vaguely like the old helicarrier and the car just a short distance away kind of looked like Lola. Not quite but close enough. Those details weren’t the thing he couldn’t tear his eyes away from though. “Nick…”

“Yeah…” Phil risked a glance at his old SO and saw the same confusion on his face. “Yeah, I see it too.”

“Is that…” Phil couldn’t quite bring himself to get the rest of the question out. Mostly because he already knew the answer. He knew that face. How could he not? He spent years—though clearly that version hadn’t had quite so many years under his belt—staring at it in the mirror.

“Yeah, I think it is.” Nick’s voice sounded seriously uncertain about the whole thing. Phil couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t every day you stood staring as another version of yourself in a very compromising position with your friend and former boss.

He watched, unable to look away as the other version of himself pressed closer, wrapping around the other version of Nick like he was a life line. They were close enough to hear them both whispering half formed promises and filthy compliments to each other between kisses and Phil was pretty sure he heard his own voice saying something along the lines of “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

He risked looking at the man beside him for a split second and regretted it instantly. He tried looking away but the only other thing in their field of vision was the couple making out—and swiftly moving toward flat out fucking—against the presumably flying car. It seemed rude to stare but he couldn’t look at Nick yet. Not with the two of them there so wrapped up in each other. So comfortable together. So damn happy to be that close to one another. Because he could see it in the way they moved together and touched and kissed.

It was a relief when the blinding white light came back and the world spun beneath him, sending him to the floor before he could center himself again. Once the after images faded, he looked up to see Skye offering her hand to him to help him up. “You okay, boss? You both just kind of zoned out and then fell over.”

“What’d they hit us with?” Nick’s voice made Phil look over to where obviously Melinda had helped him to his feet.

“We don’t know. We’ll get Fitz and Simmons looking at it.” 

Phil nodded and glanced around. Clearly May and Skye had taken care of the problem in their absence. “Tell them to look at temporal issues.”

Skye watched him for a minute. “What’d you see?”

“Nothing.” He could practically feel Nick’s eye on him for a moment. “Let’s get back to base so they can figure out what that thing did.”

He managed to avoid talking to Nick about anything non-work related for longer than he thought he could. The flight back was silent. The debrief was short. It wasn’t until later that night when he should have been sleeping—absolutely not thinking about what that other version of him might be doing in that moment in a nice warm bed next to someone he clearly loved—when there was a knock on the door.

Nick wasn’t the kind of guy to avoid awkward subjects. He charged into them head on, dealt with it and got on with his life. So seeing him standing there, not speaking and shifting from one foot to the other in his doorway—most people wouldn’t even notice the movement but Phil had practice—was even more disconcerting. “We going to talk about this?”

Phil sighed and shrugged. “What’s there to say? Millions of worlds, millions of possibilities. It barely seems like a stretch to think that in one of them we—“ He stopped himself before he could say anything else as the implication of his words hit him at full force. This was not the time to bring up that tiny little crush that he’d harbored for too long years earlier. “I’m sure stranger things have happened.”

“Yeah.” Nick moved into the room and sat down in the guest chair in front of the desk. “But we didn’t get a face full of stranger things happening.”

“Okay, yeah. You’ve got a point there.” Phil shuffled some papers, trying not to look Nick in the eye again. “I mean I didn’t think you were—“ He let another sentence dangle and almost kicked himself for it. Just because that other version of Nick was attracted to men didn’t mean this one was.

But he made himself look up again and Nick smiled and shook his head. “I could say the same about you.”

“How did that never come up before now?”

“We never had to talk about it before now.”

“Stop being so damn logical about this.” Phil sighed and stopped himself from fidgeting. “Things just stopped being weird. I don’t want to go back to being weird.”

“So we won’t. Like you said, millions of worlds, infinite possibilities.”

“Right.”

“Besides, I’m never here anyway.”

“Exactly.”

“And I’m sure they haven’t had to deal with half the shit we have so far.”

“Mhmm.”

“Phil?”

“This is getting weird isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you ever—“ He shook his head and ran a hand down his face. No, that question was not going to come out. Not after what they saw. That was dangerous territory at the best of times.

“Yeah. I have.”

That brought Phil’s head up again. At the best of times that was never going to be the answer he expected. “What?”

“You heard me. I’m not going to say it again.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

“I…” Phil bit his lip and grimaced for a second before forcing the words out. “I did too. A lot… well, a lot a long time ago.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The silence stretched out and grew thicker the longer it lingered. With everything that had already happened; with all the years working together and all the spin and rumors—because he knew there were rumors once upon a time and most of them could be traced back to John but that was a completely different issue—and TAHITI and the trust issues, it all seemed like a completely reckless and stupid idea. But before he could put any more thought or words to the idea, Nick stood up. “You don’t have to worry about this, Phil. I’ll be gone in the morning and we can forget all about this.”

He spoke without thinking. “They looked happy…”

“Phil…”

“No, just hear me out here. I know they aren’t really us. Life changes people and God only knows what their lives have been but if you thought about it and I thought about it… maybe they just had the guts to do something about it where we didn’t.”

“This is a really bad idea, Phil.”

“Yeah I know.” He got to his feet and came around the desk. “And you can tell me all about how stupid I’m being at dinner tomorrow, okay?”

“You want to go on a date?”

“Yes. Put off HYDRA for a little while and just… have dinner with me.”

Nick sighed and sat back down. “What’d you have in mind?”

Phil smiled a little wider. “Someplace that won’t feel too awkward if we decide it’s just a meal and this was the stupidest idea I’ve ever had?”

Nick laughed. “Sounds romantic as hell, Phil.”

“Yeah, you know me. Nothing but charm.” He leaned against the desk and shrugged again. “They really looked happy together.”

“They looked like horny teenagers.” Nick shook his head and Phil couldn’t help but smirk at him.

“That sounds good too.”


End file.
